{"id":2057611,"date":"2023-10-06T08:10:02","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T12:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-left-is-wrong-about-how-much-you-spend\/"},"modified":"2023-10-06T08:14:00","modified_gmt":"2023-10-06T12:14:00","slug":"the-left-is-wrong-about-how-much-you-spend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-left-is-wrong-about-how-much-you-spend\/","title":{"rendered":"The Left&#8217;s Spending Misconception"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">8<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-left-is-wrong-about-how-much-you-spend%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2057611&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>Libertarian-minded populists unite against common enemies<\/h2>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Libertarian-minded populists, \u2062both leftist and conservative, have discovered that they have much in common. \u200bIn recent years, \u2062for instance, they have united against \u200dcensorship, medical \u2062authoritarianism, the deep state and a war-mongering establishment.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>At least one lingering disagreement, however,\u2062 keeps the two groups\u2064 of populists \u2062at odds with one another.<\/p>\n<p>Leftists see\u2062 inflated prices for goods and services,\u2063 bemoan the \u2064plight of the poor,\u200c and then blame capitalism.<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives, on \u2062the other\u2063 hand,\u200b see those \u200csame \u2063inflated prices and feel that same angst over struggles many \u2063conservatives share. But they do\u200d not blame \u2062 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/drollinger-capitalism-vs-communism-one-based-scriptural-truth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">capitalism<\/a>. They\u2064 know better.<\/p>\n<p>Before proceeding, it is important to make \u2062our terms clear.<\/p>\n<h3>Defining Capitalism and Leftism<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Capitalism:<\/strong> a \u2063free market in which\u200b private individuals can profit from economic activity. This entails private ownership of property.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Leftism:<\/strong> \u200d substantial hostility toward capitalism \u2014 \u200dor to\u2062 what leftists perceive as \u200ccapitalism\u2019s baneful effects.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Leftists, of course, hate poverty,\u200b injustice, exploitation, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/lindsey-graham-ties-border-funding-ukraine-aid-tough-message-anyone-doesnt-like\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">war<\/a>, imperialism, \u200dslavery \u200band all forms of human misery. But they see these primarily as products of capitalism.<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives hate\u200d those same ills and \u2062acknowledge that they have accompanied all human societies \u2063and systems, including \u200bcapitalism. But they do not see capitalism as the cause. In fact, they regard capitalism as the best economic system for \u2064ameliorating those\u2064 timeless \u2063ills.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, leftists and conservatives\u2063 will never find\u2064 agreement in the kind of analyses that blame\u200c capitalism \u2064for human suffering.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, mountains of \u200chistorical evidence show that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/girl-scouts-clever-plan-works-set-sell-mind-boggling-number-cookies-embracing-capitalism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">capitalism<\/a>, on balance, \u2062has \u2062had\u2064 the \u2062<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/taking-woke-education-to-court\/\" title=\"Taking Woke Education To Court\">exact opposite effect<\/a>.\u2062 It has made people wealthier and allowed \u200bthem to live better \u200dthan their ancestors could have dreamed.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, according to the 2020\u200b <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cato.org\/blog\/new-cato-book-ten-global-trends-every-smart-person-should-know-many-others-you-will-find\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">book<\/a> \u201cTen\u200b Global Trends Every \u2062Smart\u2064 Person Should Know:\u2064 And\u200c Many Others You Will \u200dFind\u200d Interesting,\u201d \u200cby Marian L. \u200dTupy and Ronald Bailey, modern\u2062 Americans spend a substantially smaller percentage of household income on\u2062 basic necessities than they once did.<\/p>\n<p>In 1900, Americans spent roughly 80 percent of\u2063 their income on food, clothing and housing. That figure steadily\u200d declined and then \u2064began to plummet around 1940. A steady \u200ddecline\u2063 has continued since the 1980s.<\/p>\n<p>As the 2020s \u2064approached, the share of Americans\u2019 incomes devoted to basic necessities had fallen below 50\u200b percent.<\/p>\n<p>No discussion of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/bernie-sanders-scrambles-confronted-hypocritical-detail-angry-capitalism-event\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">capitalism<\/a> and \u200dpersonal expenses should ignore such figures.<\/p>\n<p>Put another way,\u2062 the average American today enjoys \u2064a higher standard of \u2063living than\u2063 a billionaire did 100 years\u200b ago.<\/p>\n<p>In 1916, Standard Oil founder John\u200d D. Rockefeller\u200d probably became the world\u2019s first \u2063billionaire.<\/p>\n<p>As conservative columnist George\u2063 Will <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beaconjournal.com\/story\/opinion\/columns\/2017\/05\/06\/george-f-will-you-re\/10772795007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">noted<\/a> in 2017, 21st-century Americans enjoy far more material comforts than Rockefeller did.<\/p>\n<p>Citing the work of George Mason University economist Don Boudreaux, Will shared\u2062 some remarkable conclusions about relative <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/op-ed-follow-ten-commandments-capitalism-restore-prosperity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">prosperity<\/a> over time.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs\u2062 a 1916 billionaire, you would be materially worse off than a 2017 middle-class American; an unhealthy 1916 billionaire would be much worse \u2064off\u2062 than \u2063an unhealthy 2017 American of any means,\u201d Will wrote.<\/p>\n<p>With Rockefeller\u2019s money,\u200d you could\u200c afford\u2063 anything the world of 1916\u200c had to offer. But there remained much that\u200c that world \u200cdid not yet offer.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoudreaux says that if you had Rockefeller\u2019s riches back then, you could have had a\u200b palatial home \u200bon Fifth Avenue, another overlooking\u2062 the Pacific, and a\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/epsteins-private-islands-new-owner-got-big-plans\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">private island<\/a> if you wished,\u201d \u2063Will\u200c wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOf course, going to and from\u200c the\u2064 coasts in \u2063your private but un-airconditioned railroad car would be time-consuming and less\u2063 than pleasant. And communicating with someone\u2063 on the \u2063other coast would\u2064 be a time-consuming chore,\u201d\u2064 he added.<\/p>\n<p>Indeed, traveling\u200b back in time \u2064to live Rockefeller\u2019s life would \u200dinvolve innumerable headaches \u2014 and worse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYour \u2064arthritic \u2062hips and knees? Hobble along until you cannot hobble\u2064 anymore, then\u200b buy a wheelchair. Birth control\u200b in 1916 will be primitive, unreliable and \u200cnot \u2063conducive \u200bto pleasure,\u201d Will wrote.<\/p>\n<p>We all \u2062know that things like air\u2063 conditioning, instant communication and\u200c modern\u200c medicine make life more convenient\u2063 and thus bearable.<\/p>\n<p>So why do leftists exclude those\u200b facts from critiques\u200c of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/greta-thunberg-blasted-hate-capitalism-unless-benefits-tweet-time-gets-worse\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">capitalism<\/a>? Why\u2064 do they take \u200csuch improvements for granted \u2014 as if they would have occurred apart from free markets?<\/p>\n<p>The\u2064 more one thinks \u2064about it, the\u2063 more\u200d capitalism\u2019s overall record astonishes us.<\/p>\n<p>After all, people 500 years ago did\u200b not enjoy appreciably better material conditions \u200bthan people who lived 5,000 years ago. The rhythms of hardscrabble life persisted more or less \u2063unchanged for millennia.<\/p>\n<p>Thus, such dramatic improvements in the mere century \u200csince\u200d Rockefeller\u2019s\u2062 time require explanation.<\/p>\n<p>At \u2064a minimum, we cannot blame\u200b capitalism for all ills and \u200dthen\u2063 pretend that prosperity simply occurred on\u200b its own.<\/p>\n<p>One hopes that fair-minded \u200dleftists will begin\u2064 to see that the evils they decry do not flow from capitalism. Those evils have existed under every system and will always exist, as \u2063long as humans and human institutions do.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, only <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/left-wrong-co2-dropped-68-per-dollar-gdp-thanks-capitalism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">capitalism<\/a> \u200c has\u2062 improved people\u2019s \u2064material lives.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<div class=\"author_subscription_pitch\">\n<h2>An Urgent Note from Our\u200b Staff:<\/h2>\n<p><em><b>The Western Journal\u2064 has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/pfizer-recruits-super-bowl-champ-to-be-official-spokesman-for-covid-booster\/\" title=\"Pfizer hires Super Bowl champ as COVID booster spokesperson.\">labeled \u201cdangerous\u201d simply<\/a> \u200cbecause we\u2063 have a biblical\u2063 worldview\u2062 and speak the truth about what is \u200chappening in America.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We refuse to let Big Tech and woke advertisers dictate the content we share with our community. \u2062We \u2063stand\u200c for truth. We stand for \u200bfreedom. We stand with our\u2064 readers.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019re asking you\u200c to help us in this fight. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=BM6XAWRJ8NS7A&#038;utm_source=site&#038;utm_medium=westernjournalism&#038;utm_campaign=authorpitch\"><b>We can\u2019t do this without you<\/b><\/a><b>.<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/governor-goes-around-voters-backs-signs-change-in-state-election-laws\/\" title=\"Governor sneaks behind voters, enacts new election laws.\">donation directly helps fund<\/a> our editorial team of writers and editors. Your support means we \u2064can \u200dcontinue to expose false \u200dnarratives and defend traditional \u200bAmerican values.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.paypal.com\/donate\/?hosted_button_id=BM6XAWRJ8NS7A&#038;utm_source=site&#038;utm_medium=westernjournalism&#038;utm_campaign=authorpitch\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Please stand with us by donating today<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><b>Thank you for \u200cyour \u200dsupport!<\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The post <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/left-wrong-much-spend\/\">The Left \u2064Is Wrong About How \u2062Much You\u2063 Spend<\/a> appeared first on <a rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\">The Western Journal<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <\/p>\n<h2> What role \u200dhas capitalism played in reducing global poverty rates, according to the World Bank?<\/h2>\n<p><span>  Ed \u200dever since, with Americans now spending less than 30\u2064 percent of their income on basic necessities. This is a result of the innovation, efficiency, and abundance that capitalism has brought\u200b to \u200dour society.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, capitalism has lifted billions of people out of extreme poverty around the world. According to the World Bank, the global poverty rate has fallen from 36 percent in 1990 to about 9 percent in \u200c2018. \u2062This \u200bremarkable reduction in poverty is largely \u200dattributed to\u200d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-left-is-wrong-about-how-much-you-spend\/\" title=\"The Left's Spending Misconception\">countries embracing\u2064 free-market policies<\/a> and allowing capitalism to flourish.<\/p>\n<p>Critics of \u2063capitalism often \u2062point to income inequality as evidence of its failure. \u2062However, it is important to distinguish \u200cbetween income inequality and absolute poverty. While income inequality\u200d may exist in capitalist societies, the focus should\u200b be on the absolute improvement in living standards\u2062 for all individuals. Capitalism has not only improved the \u2063overall wealth of society but has also provided \u2064opportunities for upward mobility.<\/p>\n<p>On the other \u2063hand, leftist solutions such as socialism or communism have a track record of failure and often lead \u2063to economic stagnation, poverty, and\u2063 lack of personal freedoms. History\u200c has shown us the disastrous consequences of centralized government control over the means of production and distribution. From the Soviet Union\u200d to Venezuela, \u2064socialist experiments have resulted in widespread\u200b poverty and \u2063human suffering.<\/p>\n<p>Conservatives understand that while capitalism is not \u200ca perfect system, it allows for individual freedom, innovation, \u2063and voluntary exchange that leads to economic prosperity. They recognize that the \u200bkey \u200dto addressing the \u200dissues of poverty and inequality lies in empowering individuals and promoting\u2063 economic growth, not\u200c in \u200cstifling \u2062entrepreneurship and imposing government control.<\/p>\n<p>In conclusion, \u200bwhile libertarian-minded populists have found common ground in\u2062 their opposition to censorship, authoritarianism, and the deep state, they remain divided on the role of capitalism in addressing societal issues. Leftists tend to \u200bblame capitalism\u200b for social problems,\u200b whereas conservatives see capitalism \u2062as the best system for improving living standards and reducing poverty.\u200c The evidence overwhelmingly supports the benefits of capitalism \u2064in promoting\u200c economic growth and lifting people out of poverty. Therefore, it is crucial for both groups to engage in constructive dialogue and recognize the successes and failures of \u200bdifferent economic systems to find\u2063 effective solutions \u2063for the challenges we face as a society.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Libertarian-minded populists, from both left and right, find common ground in their opposition to censorship, medical authoritarianism, the deep state, and a war-mongering establishment. Yet, a single disagreement continues to divide them: leftists perceive inflated prices for goods and services as a concern, while conservatives hold a different view.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2056,"featured_media":2057612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[548],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2057611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-conservative-news-daily"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2056"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2057611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2057611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2057612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2057611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2057611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2057611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}